Keene State building honored for efficient design

KEENE - Keene State College's new Technology, Design and Safety Center building has been awarded the maximum rebate of $150,000 from the Public Service of New Hampshire New Equipment and Construction Rebate Program.

The money will be used to further the building's energy efficiency by going toward the installation of a photovoltaic solar array on the TDS Center's roof this spring, said Keene State College Interim President Jay Kahn Thursday.

The solar array would increase the energy efficiency of the building by producing 15 percent of the energy used by the building, Kahn said.

"I do want to credit Public Service of New Hampshire for supporting a program that encourages large energy users to build energy saving features into their construction efforts and into their facility improvement efforts," Kahn said.

The efficiency rebate is the result of the heating, ventilation, lighting and air conditioning systems that were chosen for the TDS Center, Kahn said. "Our primary goal was to maximize the efficiency and sustainability of the new TDS Center," he said and the rebate was icing on the cake.

The TDS Center should save about $84,000 a year in energy costs because of the energy efficient features of the building, said Paul Hausmann, an account executive at PSNH.

PSNH has the program because it wants to encourage energy efficiency efforts, which arse good for the environment and decrease future power purchases, relieving PSNH of costly infrastructure expansion in the future, he said.

The $16 million Technology, Design and Safety Center opened last fall. The building unifies three of the college's leading academic programs: safety and occupational health applied sciences, architecture and sustainable product design and innovation.

The building was designed with removable panels so that design students can observe and test how a sustainable building functions.

The TDS Center building was built to replace the 1969 Adams Technology Building, which lacked insulation in the walls and roof, energy efficient windows, proper electrical supply, fire safety, accessibility, mechanical ventilation, and temperature and lighting controls.

In building the new center Keene State combined the old 1926 portion of the building, took off the 1960s addition and replaced it with a state-of-the- art facility that totals 53,000 square feet.